Back From Kyiv, Blumenthal Promises To Keep Up The Pressure

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal brought a message back from Ukraine to New Haven Sunday, and received one in return.

Blumenthal also spoke with Andrey Zinchuk, a doctor at Yale New Haven Health, who had also just returned from Ukraine. 

Zinchuk told Blumenthal that an organization with which he’s involved, called Doctors Unite 4 Ukraine, is working on assisting frontline hospitals in getting medical supplies, specifically transport ventilators. 

According to Zinchuk, every state including Connecticut has a stockpile of unused transport ventilators dedicated to the Covid pandemic, as does the federal government; 1 percent of these reserves can fulfill Ukraine’s needs. Blumenthal promised Zinchuk he would work on making the transfer happen.. 

Connecticut’s Blumenthal and U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R‑SC) spent much of last week in Ukraine. Among other stops, they met with President Volodmyr Zelensky in Kyiv.

“He told me that the war is reaching a critical point, and we must continue to support the Ukrainians’ humanitarian efforts and also provide them with the military resources to go on the offensive,” Blumenthal told Ukrainian New Haveners at a community meeting in St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church on George Street following Sunday prayer services.

“We must be Ukraine’s arsenal of democracy.”

Blumenthal was greeted by Myron Melnyk, one of the leaders of New Haven’s Ukrainian community, who spoke briefly before introducing Blumenthal. 

“Things are much different from when Sen. Blumenthal and [Congresswoman Rosa] DeLauro came here four weeks ago,” said Melnyk. ​“We carefully follow the daily DoD [Department of Defense] briefing on Ukraine, and it appears as if Russia is winning today. We must work to ensure that does not happen.” He urged Blumenthal to keep up pressure to support the nation militarily, which Blumenthal agreed to do.

Blumenthal told the roughly 50 people in the church that he maintains hope for the Ukrainians prevailing, comparing their current struggle to the United State’s own revolutionary war against the United Kingdom. 

He spoke of a train ride he took during his trip.

“We traveled three days to get to Kyiv. It was an arduous journey, but the amazing thing on the train from Przemysl, Poland to Kyiv was the fact that it was full. Women and children are coming home. People vote with their feet, and that’s what I saw in Ukraine,” he said.

He and Graham presented Zelensky with a draft of a Senate resolution calling for placing Russia on the State Sponsors of Terror list, which will allow for stricter sanctions against the nation. 

Blumenthal said he plans to pursue passage of this resolution when he returns to Washington this week. 

Marika Kuzma and Andrew Bamber questioned Blumenthal on the role of the U.N. in the conflict. Blumenthal said he has little faith in the UN Security Council ​“accomplishing anything.”